1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control method facilitating capturing an optimal image in an image capture apparatus, such as a digital camera or a digital video camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a function of checking a captured image in an image capture mode, an image capture apparatus, such as a digital camera or a digital video camera, has a REC review function of displaying a photographed image on a liquid crystal display (LCD) immediately after capturing the image.
In a reproduction mode (playback mode), the image capture apparatus has a function of sequentially displaying photographed images according to a user's operation. In the image capture apparatus (the digital camera or the digital video camera), when such functions are used, since a screen size is small in an electronic viewfinder (EVF) which is used for checking captured images, the captured images are reduced to be displayed in many cases.
Thus, even when capturing cannot be performed as intended by a user, e.g., the eyes of a human subject are closed, the subject is in a red-eye state, a luminance degree of a subject's face is too high, or the subject is out of focus, it is difficult for the user to check for such a situation if the displayed subject image is small.
Accordingly, such an image capture apparatus has a function of enabling the user to check a captured image by magnifying the image according to a user's button operation.
However, magnifying a captured image at each time of capturing takes time and is cumbersome. Thus, the composition of a subject (a photographic subject) may change during a user's operation even if the user intends to perform capturing again because of incomplete captured images.
Rather than checking an image at each time of capturing, some users may check captured images collectively after completion of capturing a plurality of images.
In this case, only after a while from capturing of the first image, the user can find that the captured image is not an intended one. In this case, the composition of a subject may, also, change during a user's operation even if the user intends to perform capturing again because of incomplete captured images.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-292853 discloses a technology of always outputting best images by detecting positions of a face and eyes of a subject and automatically eliminating images inappropriate as output photographs, e.g., closed eye images.
The above technology is based on the premise that the positions of the eyes of a subject are detected, a state of the eyes is determined, and capturing is performed only when the pupils are open.
Thus, the above technology is effective in the case of performing capturing on the premise that one human subject is a capturing target as in a certification photograph and the eyes of the subject are open.
However, in a general method of using a digital camera or a digital video camera in which a user performs capturing at an optional timing, a state of closed eyes may be captured, and a method of uniquely deciding processing according to a state of a subject is not preferable.